A Second Chance
by IndigoisBlue
Summary: "Ruby Rose, you have silver eyes," "Yes, yes I do, and i know how to use them," Ruby was sent back ten years, but she kept her elder selfs abilities, yet is in her fifteen year old body.
1. Chapter 1

_Under what remained of Beacon tower, nearly ten years after its fall, two figures, a man and woman, stood in front of the device that once held the fall maiden._

 _The woman, the last huntress in remnant, turned to the man and said, "Oscar, you don't have to do this. You can just hide or go back to plotting the defeat of Salem. There might be another way, you don't have to die,"_

" _No Ruby," the man replied, "I do. This is the only way to stop her for good, when she isn't as powerful as she is now. And if I do this, everyone else will be alive as well. You will get to see them again, so I'm sending you back, no matter what you say, I'm sending you back to the beginning, that night in the music store. If all goes well, you will not only have your weapons, but your weapon, your strength and your power, mabe even your appearance. The only thing that should change, is how you are seen and how you must act. You will still be seen as an innocent fifteen-year-old girl. Don't forget, your friends, won't be the friends you know, so be cautious. Are you ready?"_

 _Ruby nodded and Oscar held out his hands as he started to age and turn to dust. The last thing she saw, before her world was reduced to the green that is time, was his smile. It was the smile of someone who is happy, someone who will be alive, someone who has fulfilled themselves._


	2. Chapter 2

Opening her eyes, she surveyed her surroundings. It worked, she was in dust till dawn. Mentally checking herself and her aura, she found herself to be in physically the same state as she was/will be in ten years, her aura and therefore powers the same as well. Feeling her weapon, she found it the same as well. Finally checking her appearance on the camera on her scroll, she found herself to be looking like a fifteen-year-old again, not a single scar in sight. Exactly as they planned.

Suddenly she heard the bell ring, signifying someone had entered the store. Torchwick. Humming noticeably the song playing on her headphones, she felt a tap on her shoulders. She turned to face the thug who motioned for her to take off her headphones. Doing so, he told her to put her hands into the air.

"Are you robbing me?" she asked, remembering every detail of this night and every other. The idiot thug nodded then went flying through the open door, and before you could say 'Bobs your uncle' Torchwick and his men were all tied up, and a bullhead could be heard flying of in the distance, just as she planned. Returning the stolen dust to the store owner and cleaning up the street slightly, she waited for Glynda to come along, which she did. Then escorted Ruby to the interrogation room of the police station.

Before she could finish berating the girl however, Ruby interrupted and said, "I am well aware what I did was dangerous, but Torchwick was robbing that store and I had to stop him. As you saw there was no destruction to property and no casualties. I understand I would have been safer to wait for the authorities, but Roman is a bad guy. I felt it my duty as a huntress in training to take him down and protect the innocent, that's what we do, correct?"

Before Glynda could respond to this startlingly wise young girl, Ozpin entered the room with a plate of cookies which he placed in front of Ruby, who smiled at him.

"Ruby Rose," he said, "You have silver eyes,"

"Yes. Yes, I do. And I know how to use them," she replied, barely containing her excitement as he raised his eyebrow and said, "You do?"

"As I said, yes, yes I do. They're like a cheat sheet for if you're in a tangle with Grimm," she said giggling.

"So then I can safely assume you are a huntress?" he said realising someone with her skill level could hardly be in a secondary or even primary academy, but just to be safe he added, "Or at least huntress in training,"

"Uh hun. I am currently attending Signal academy, where my uncle taught me everything I know, and then in two years I'm going to enrol at Beacon, just like my sister" Ruby replied.

"So you want to slay monsters?" he asked curious as to how someone so young and innocent could possibly want to train at the academies and also how she could have possibly learnt about her eyes.

"I always have, ever since I was a little girl," she replied wistfully remembering her mothers stories about helping people.

"Then let me ask you, why do you want to be a huntress?"

She knew the answer to this, but asked instead, "Which answer do you want? The nice answer, the innocent answer, the answer you're expecting, the answer I would have given, or the honest answer?"

"I think you know Ruby," he answered kindly.

"Because I want to protect the world, protect the love and the innocence. I want to stop the darkness and evil in the world. Because the Grimm aren't the only monsters in the world that need to be stopped. Because don't want the darkness that is all around us to overtake the light. I want to save the world, even if it kills me. And because I can do exactly that. Do you believe in destiny?"

Ozpin gave a slight nod before asking, "Do you know who I am?"

She smiled and nodded in return, "You're Ozpin, the headmaster at Beacon,"

"Correct. Do you want to come to my school?" she nodded eagerly, "Well ok then. The airship is leaving at six o'clock sharp. Welcome to beacon,"

The next day when Ruby arrived at the airship and boarded she was met with a bone crushing hug, one that she missed dearly.

"Ruby! What are you doing here?" asked her sister Yang.

"Oh, I just got accepted into Beacon two years early," she replied nonchalantly causing her sister to squeal in delight. Thankfully the journey was a short one and once they arrived Yang immediately ran off with her friends. checking the time ruby counted to three before arialing to the side to avoid Weiss's luggage. Weiss watching this gasped and, as Rubys hood was up, assumed she was some trained huntress.

"I am so sorry miss, I nearly ran you over with my luggage," she said to Ruby who removed her hood and replied, "It's no problem, the name's Ruby, nice to meet you," and smiled.

"Not to be rude," Weiss started, "But aren't you a little young to be starting at Beacon?"

"I was moved ahead, anyway, aren't you a little rich not to be in atlas Weiss?" Ruby replied with a grin.

With a sad tone Weiss said, "So you know who I am then,"

Ruby nodded then said, "You are the lonely, friendless heiress to the Shnee dust company, infamous for its controversial labour forces and questionable business partners. You are also a huntress in training who's only wish is to not be lonely and be respected not for her name but for her heart. You are Weiss, the girl who will hopefully one day change the way the world see's your name," leaning to the side to peek around the shell-shocked Weiss, she continued, "Isn't that right miss Belladonna?"

Emerging from behind the luggage pile Blake replied, "We shall see," and walked off, wondering how this girl knew her name.

Facing Weiss once more Ruby said, "I hope to see you around Weiss," and they both parted ways. Soon Ruby spotted Jaune. She walked over to him as he sat morosely on one of the stone benches and sat beside him stating, "Don't worry Jaune, motion sickness is far more common than people know, though you could have taken a Quells or something,"

As he turned to face the girl who seemingly knew his name and what was on his mind, Ruby continued, "Hi, my name is Ruby Rose, want to be friends?"

He laughed and said sure, shaking her hand and asking how she knew his name to which she simply replied, "Hey, I know a lot of things such as, if all goes as it should, you pay attention to the green eyed Amazonian themed huntress in training. Another thing, no matter what you do, Weiss will never like you. Also, if Pyrra offers to train you, choke down your arc pride and let her. Finally, avoid Cardin at all costs. Oh, and the auditorium is this way,"

And so, Ruby led an amazed and very confused Jaune Arc to the auditorium where she introduced her sister to Weiss and Jaune, just before Ozpin gave his speech. Everything was going according to her plan.

That night, before going to sleep, Ruby located Blake and introduced her to her sister, Weiss coming to join them soon after.

"By the way Ruby," Blake asked her new friend before turning off the lights, "How did you know my name before?"

Ruby smiled and answered, "I simply know my history," before walking off to bed and grinning, thinking, ' _this is going to be more interesting than the first time around. Let's just hope Ozpin doesn't get too suspicious just yet'_ before falling asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Each student hoping to pass initiation was standing on the cliff edge surrounding the emerald forest. As Ozpin finished explaining the rules, which Ruby already knew, the first students started being catapulted into the forest. As soon as it was her turn and she was in the air, she fired a few rounds to go further before swinging down using the branches, landing right next to Weiss. She then shouted, unnecessarily loudly, "The relics are this way!" then paused, remembering what was supposed to happen and turned to Weiss and said, "Do you trust me?"

Weiss replied, "Yes," causing Ruby to frown and say, "Shame, well I hope you will again someday," before wrapping her arm around Weiss and firing the crook of her scythe into the air, it wrapping around the giant Nevermores' foot, that had been circling them, and pulling themselves up. Weiss, keeping her cool, then shouted over the wind, once they had climbed onto its back, "So, how will we get down?!"

"Easy," Ruby replied, "Once we pick up Blake and Yang, I'll show you. In the meantime, make yourself comfortable,"

Spying her sister and her sisters partner in the forest, she fired her scythe head at them and yanked them onto the bird as well before they could react. Blake looked like she was about to ask something before Yang shouted over the wind to both Blake and Weiss, "I've learned never to question her, and if you do, be prepared for the answer," which shut up any further questions.

After a minute or two, Ruby called back to the trio who were starting to get comfortable, "Ok, we're about to land and, depending on whether this thing is willing to die or not, it may be slightly scary, so Weiss, on my mark, I need you to create a gravity glyph beneath you three, not me, and then on my second signal, change it to a support glyph, so that you are separated from the bird while I kill it. Then you can help Jaune, Pyrra, Nora and Ren with the Deathstalker. Oh, and grab the pony,"

The group was nearing the cliff above the relics, similar to the cliff she ran up the first-time around. Shouting for Weiss to activate the first glyph, the crashed the nevermore into the cliff side. Shouting for the second glyph, the other three girls stopped moving and ran to retrieve their relics. As they did this, ruby started running up the cliff face using her semblance to be faster than sound, her eyes glowing slightly, as the other trainees watched in awe. Finally decapitating the Nevermore, she jumped off the cliff, flew slightly at the bottom, then hit the ground running using her semblance, whilst motioning for the others to join in with the future JNPRs battle.

Suddenly, and just as Ruby predicted, the future team JNPR was cut off from them by a horde of Grimm, stopping the visual either way.

As Weiss, Blake and Yang were fighting off the Grimm, Ruby decided to prove to Ozpins hidden cameras that she did, in fact, know how to use her eyes, destroying groups of fifty Grimm at a time, using her weapon only when the rest of her bewildered team were looking, until finally all the Grimm had been destroyed.

And so, an hour later, at the initiation ceremony, when the final two teams, JNPR and RWBY were called out, Weiss did not complain at all, completely agreeing with Ozpins' choice. And just before everyone started heading to their dorms, Ozpin called Ruby aside and asked her, "Were you… showing off?" in a slightly bewildered manner.

"Not even nearly," replied Ruby in a sing-songy way, as she skipped off to join her celebrating team. As she did so, Ozpin attempted to activate one aspect of his semblance and find out who this little girl really was, but something was blocking him. And as he watched ruby skip off, he swore he heard her giggle slightly before rounding the corner.

Back in RWBY dorm, Ruby entered the room and immediately went about unpacking. Her sister noticed this and called to her, "We can do that in the morning Ruby, relax for now,"

"Breakfast is over at ten to nine in the morning and classes start at nine. If we sleep in until eight or quarter past, we will get sufficient sleep and not be late for classes. On top of that, I won't have to use my whistle. Now, if my calculations are correct, then we do not have enough room for all of our things, which is why I have brought the necessary items to build safe bunk beds. Does everyone agree? Good, let's start,"

Using her semblance, she had completely unpacked and built the bunk beds, before anyone could protest, much to Yangs surprise, considering she was lying on one of the beds at the time, "Wow little sis, I knew you were fast, but that was ridiculous, and how did you manage to hoist these beds, with me in one of them, into the air?!"

Ruby thought for a minute before poking her tongue out at her sister and saying, "I'm stronger than you!" and laughing.

"No way you are! Prove it!" Yang goaded, outraged.

"Mabe at breakfast, but first, sleep," Ruby laughed again before hopping on her bed and quickly falling asleep. Though she had long since stopped sleeping in her own time, it was nice to do so now.

That morning she awoke at eight o'clock sharp, to the sound of her teammates finishing unpacking. Dressing in their uniforms, they headed followed Ruby down to the cafeteria for breakfast where they joined team JNPR.

Yang, sitting opposite Ruby, said, "Alright Ruby, arm wrestle time!" this getting the rest of RWBY and JNPR, and even some of the other teams, already knowing of Yangs strength, interested.

"Ok Yang, I hope you are prepared to lose," Ruby replied loudly, catching the passing Glyndas' attention, who immediately started observing from a distance.

Locking hands with her sister, she made it seem like she was losing until, BAM, she slammed her sisters hand against the bench and was declared a victor. A few others that were watching decided to challenge her, all of whom met the same embarrassing fate as their predecessor.

Checking the time, Ruby realised it was time for class. Dragging her class at light speed to their first class, Grimm studies with professor port, RWBY entered the class room a minute early. Professor Port laughed and said, "Ah good, a group eager to learn more about their enemies and hear some fascinating stories about a certain, handsome young hunters youth,"

Ruby smiled at the old man and asked, "Professor Port, could you please tell us the story about when you faced off two Ursa major and a King Taijitu single handedly, whilst defending your fallen comrades without any rounds left in your blunder axe? I love that one!"

"Why of course young huntress, how did you know of that story though?" a happy professor replied.

"It's one of the greatest tales of heroism of all time! Why wouldn't I know it. You and your team were incredibly brave and strong, some of the greatest hunters in history," ruby answered smiling.

As the team settled down in their seats, Weiss turned to Ruby and asked, "How did you know all of that?"

"Yes, why don't I know that story?" asked an intrigued Blake, annoyed that she had missed out on a story.

"Yeah, we never learnt that story," agreed Yang.

"Guys, as much as he may seem to bore you and not teach anything, professor Port is actually an amazing hunter who was on a team with doctor Oobleck and two others once upon a time. He is one of our other teachers, carful though, he does not respond kindly to 'professor',"

The other students started to file in and the lesson was set into motion without a hitch, with Weiss being called up to kill a Boarbatusk Grimm. Struggling slightly with finding a weakness, she turned to Ruby who motioned for her to strike its underbelly which killed it immediately, Weiss thanking Ruby after class.

The rest of the day went without incident.

A few nights later Ruby was sitting on the ledge above the roof when she heard footsteps approach. Pyrra and Jaune, just as Ruby suspected.

Their conversation ended with Jaune revealing that he had faked his transcripts and accepting Pyrras' help. Once Pyrra left Jaune to continue practising, Cardin arrived, having heard their whole conversation and threatened Jaune.

After Jaune left, shoulders sagged, and Cardin was about to leave, Ruby finally decided to descend to the rooftop from her hiding place.

"Hello Cardin," she said slyly, "I just felt it necessary to tell you, that if you threaten any of my friends again, I will not hesitate to end you," pulling out her weapon she added, "Is that clear?"

"Crystal," Cardin gulped before running off.

 **Authors note: I know it's slightly non-sensical, and very fast moving, but bear with me, I will try to make more sense in the future.**


	4. Chapter 4

The next day in the Forever-Fall forest, Ruby was watching Jaune and Cardin from the corner of her eye. She knew that Cardin would want revenge for that little scare, and would hopefully be targeting her, instead of or as well as Pyrra. And as the two boys started arguing, and the Ursa was drawn to their negative energy, using her many acquired powers from over the coming years, Ruby gave him a boost of confidence, to not only fight the Ursa, but help him stand up to Cardin.

As the Ursa was finally slain, Ruby walked over to a self-satisfied looking Pyrra and said, "Polarity is a handy semblance, especially as most weapons nowadays are metal, right?"

Pyrra mindlessly nodded, before her head shot up and she asked, "How did you know?"

Wriggling her fingers in an arc above her head, Ruby answered, "Magic," before walking off, leaving an astounded, and very impressed Pyrra, to talk with Jaune about further training.

A few days later, it was time to meet Penny. So, dragging her team down to the docks she waited until they spotted Sun. Turning to Blake, she said, "Ok, so when that boy, Sun, starts to run off, he will lead us to a friend of mine. Once I see her, Blake, you go off and befriend him, he is from haven and is really nice, I think you'll like him. Also, Weiss, no insults, he paid for his fare, he was just hiding the whole time. And once we are all back at the dorm, Blake, you are removing your bow and explaining everything. Are we all clear? Good, and here he comes!"

Chasing him across the city, Ruby finally bumped into Penny. Motioning to Blake, she made chase, whilst Ruby stayed and helped Penny up.

"Salutations Penny, how's Atlas?" Ruby asked, discretely pressing a memory chip into Penny's wrist as she helped her up. Uploading all the information in a nanosecond Penny nodded, signalling she had understood it all then beamed.

"Hello friend! Atlas is great! Slightly cold though," this caused Ruby to laugh, before Penny continued, "So this is Weiss and your sister Yang? And the black-haired girl I saw earlier must have been Blake, correct?"

Ruby laughed and nodded, glad to have her friend back. After chatting and exploring the city with Penny, Ruby headed back to the dorm where she met Blake on the way there as well.

"So, what do you think of Sun?" Ruby whispered conspiratorially.

"I like him. He's honest and kind and funny and… hey! Stop laughing. Anyway, I asked if he knew you and he said that he didn't, so how did you know him?"

"The same way, I know what's under your bow and about your past, and no, I'm not a stalker," Ruby replied, causing Blake to start.

"How then?" Blake asked calmly.

"Wouldn't you like to know. Simple answer is… umm… magic," Ruby said giving her usual answer for the unexplainable. Arriving at the room to find Weiss and Yang waiting for them, they were bombarded with questions. Holding up her hand, Ruby called for silence, and told Blake to explain everything, from Sun, to her Faunus ears and the White Fang.

Whilst she was doing this, Ruby decided to remember. Thinking into the future, which is her past, she remembered Salem, and how she nearly succeeded in her mission to destroy all life on Remnant. Of her teammates, all of whom died tragic, yet fitting, deaths. Of her family, and the teachers at beacon, who met the same fate. Even of Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, Tyrian and Watts, how even they could not escape Cinder.

And finally, she thought of Oscar. Her best friend and mabe more… he sacrificed his life, so that the world could be saved. How he helped her write the letters she sent to the maidens of this time, how he helped create the memory chip for Penny and the dust pearls for himself, Qrow, Ozpin and anyone else involved.

Thinking back to when they met in Haven. She had just found the spring maiden to be on her death bead, when Oscar arrived, Ozpin warning him that she could be in danger,. He had pointed a pitchfork at her and said 'back away from the maiden,' before Ozpin told him who she was, the embarrassed expression at what Ozpin must have said caused him to pull such an expression, that Spring had died laughing. Remembering a while after, in her battle with Winter and Weiss at Atlas against Raven, where both Winter and Raven had perished, how afterwards, when she was burying the two, Ozpin taught Oscar how to preserve both of the warriors weapons in time, to mark their graves.

And how two years later, after she had killed Cinder, how the four arrows she had fired, before perishing, had embedded into her teammates and uncles' hearts. How in that moment, the Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring maidens' powers, came rushing in full force, all at once, her silver eyes lighting up Remnant, even scaring Salem.

And how finally, eight years after that, when Salem finally perished, along with mankind, in Remnants final hours, how he had looked into her eyes and sent her back, to save the both of them, with the items necessary to restore remnant along with his own memories.

As Blake finished, and Weiss gave her an "It's all in the past," speech Ruby snapped back to the current reality. Standing and speaking loudly, she announced, "Tomorrow we will have a morning of training like no other. It will test your abilities to work with and fight in your surroundings, to not just fight, but to have fun with it. And finally, it will test the durability of fruit and other such foods. Yes, I'm talking about the biggest, awesomest, most chaotic and amazing food fight in the history of beacon, and it will be against… JNPR,"

And so, after much discussion on strategy and finally forming a good plan of attack, the team went to bed, and awaited the new day, and the fun that was to come.


	5. Chapter 5

Sitting next to team JNPR at the cafeteria, team RWBY was eagerly awaiting the food fling that would start the food fight. Right on the dot of 8:25, as predicted by Ruby, the first shot was fired, and impacted on Yangs face. Grinning, and immediately throwing an apple back at Nora, Yang declared war.

At first, it was the simple flinging of pancakes (which Nora caught in her mouth) then, as the other students began to evacuate, new weapons were forged. Yang using two whole chickens for gauntlets, a sausage chain for Blake, a baguette for Weiss, Nora with her watermelon hammer and Ruby going weaponless.

Soon the table fort was made by team JNPR and, unfortunately for team RWBY, had given them the advantage of higher ground. So, deciding with the one on one approach, each member of team RWBY singled out a member of team JNPR. The pairings were Blake vs Ren, Nora vs Yang, Jaune, surprisingly managing to hold his own, vs Weiss, and Ruby vs Pyrrha.

Realising their attack wasn't working, the teams regrouped and tried again, gaining some ground before being pelted with cans via the drink dispenser, then again by Pyrrhas' semblance. Suddenly, a huge ice-wall was formed, trapping and blocking all of the cans.

"Nice job Weiss, but how did you do that without dust?" complimented Yang.

"I didn't do that, I have no idea where that came from," Weiss answered, about to say more when Ruby melted the ice around numerous cans, releasing them for use.

"Hey Yang, start shaking these up really good so we can use them as bombs," she called.

"But they were in the ice, wouldn't they be to flat?" Yang replied.

"Not when I'm done with them," Ruby replied mysteriously, a cheeky smile across her face, thinking, _'I missed just having fun, I forgot how good it is for you,'_

Grabbing the first can that Yang had started to shake up, Weiss and Blake joining in with their efforts, she heated it up with her hand, burning through the paper label and leaving glowing red handprints that her team noticed, but did not comment on, and started hurling them around the other group in quick succession, drawing them into a tighter circle.

Leaving one opening for the other team to exploit, she continued hurling each can, which exploded on contact, until they spotted the opening. Racing out and attacking from behind, team JNPR attacked again, this time sending Yang out the roof, and knocking both Weiss and Blake out for the count.

Ruby, now being the only member of her team left, searched for a way around the opposing team, and finding many, chose to stay put and fight them in hand to hand, somehow eliciting a few cheers from the out members of her team and even her enemies-for-the-moment.

Tiring of the little challenge she was facing, she rushed them, using a hyped-up semblance, and sent them all crashing into the far wall of the cafeteria, completely exhausted and surprised at the girls skill.

It was now Glynda chose to enter, cleaning their mess just as Yang landed, shouting, "What on Remnant do you think you're doing?! Especially you miss Rose, I expected better but this is just a waste of time you lot could use studying or training,"

"I don't know what you could possibly mean by that miss Goodwitch," Ruby replied grinning, "This was training,"

"Oh really?" Glynda replied, unimpressed.

"Absolutely," Ruby continued, undeterred, "This session has taught us how to utilise our surroundings if separated from our weapons, using only our environment and semblances. Furthermore, it was teaching us to have fun, which not only is a fundamental requirement for children, which we all are, but it allowed us to forget the war we are about to be thrust into, preserving our innocence and our spirits, helping ward off Grimm in the process. Don't force us to grow up before we must, innocence is something that when lost, cannot be regained or earnt. It's gone forever and that is a sad thing. If you only had one choice, to protect a hunter, or a child who does not yet know of the dangers of the world, which would you choose? The adult, who lived through wars on the front line, seeing horrors you can only dream of? Or the innocent 5 year old, who is running about, under your feet, playing with their dolls whilst you are fighting off the darkness? I choose innocence, don't you? I should think that Ozpin does as well, ask him that, and see what he says,"

And with that, Ruby ran off, the haunted look in her eyes vanishing behind a strong guise of childishness to play in the aftermath of their food fight with her friends, unaware of what had happened.

While the eight students were laughing, and enjoying themselves, Ozpin, who had heard everything said, commented, "She's right Glynda. She may have gone about it in an interesting way, but she is still right about protecting the innocence. She is a very wise child, wise and mature, and strong. But that look in her eyes, you saw it, right Glynda.

She nodded.

"That is the look very few people have. Even you or I cannot even hope to imagine what has given her that look, for neither you nor I have it ourselves. Not even Qrow has seen the horrors she must have to be able to look at us like that. I think… I think I'm re-evaluating my decision on who should be the next fall maiden. Already miss Rose has proven herself to be remarkably capable and mature, stronger even than miss Nikos in both mind and body. How, though? That is the question," he trailed off, leaving Glynda to ask him something.

"Sir? What she said, would you choose the innocence?"

"Yes, I would. I have made more mistakes than any man or child on Remnant, but that would not be one of them. Now tell me, would you?" he asked, before walking off, leaving her to think on her answer.

Finally coming to a conclusion, she said aloud, looking at the still playing children, "Yes, yes I would," and she could have sworn, she saw the little rose girl, smile slightly wider.


	6. Chapter 6

Ozpin stood with Qrow and Glynda in his office, speaking with the hollow projection of James Ironwood.

"Okay Ozpin, why have you called us here?" asked James.

"For two reasons. The first being that I have decided on the perfect candidate for the next fall maiden, the second being that I think we should tell her now and get it done with well before the Vytal festival. I have this odd premonition that that is when our enemy strikes," Ozpin answered.

"We've been friends for years Oz, I trust your premonitions well enough to believe that you are right," James said, "So who is it, and when should we tell her?"

"I think we should tell her within the following week,"

"But who is the girl?" an only slightly drunk Qrow asked.

"Well you see, I have a feeling you might object to my choice," Ozpin replied reluctantly.

"Tell me Ozpin!" Qrow shouted, getting impatient.

"Well, she makes the most sense. She is the most powerful of her year group, if not the school, staff included, and she is wise beyond her years. She is kind and caring, and tries to protect everything in the world, particularly the innocence. What's more is that she has this look in her eye. It's as if she has watched a thousand battles on the front line, watched her loved ones die and not be able to do anything about it. It's as if she has already watched the war ahead of us,"

"Who is it Ozpin?!" Qrow shouted again, "I would almost think you were describing Ruby but for the eyes and the wisdom and power,"

"That's because I am Qrow," Ozpin winced from the sudden shout and following insults coming now from his friend.

"Why?! of all the people you could have chosen, you choose my daughter, what about the Nikos or the Schnee girl? Would they do instead?" he shouted before falling to his knees and sobbing slightly, "Anyone but my Ruby,"

"Okay," said Glynda, "Who here knew that Qrow had a daughter, all those who did say 'aye',"

A single 'aye' was called by Ozpin.

"Okay then, Ozpin it seems we have our maiden, Ironwood, don't you have some Generalling to do somewhere?" he nodded, "Then do us a favour and go and do it,"

James nodded again before cancelling the connection, leaving them alone. Outside a caw was heard, followed by a few more, a tapping, numerous squawks and another caw, before the source of the sound, a raven, was seen flying off to the emerald forest.

Sitting up straighter, Qrow said, "Okay, do it then, call Ruby to your office right away, there is no time to lose,"

Ozpin complied, while Glynda asked, "What's with the change of heart?"

"My sister just told me something that reassured me somewhat,"

"Your sister? Raven?"

"Yep, that was her tapping and squawking at the window over there. You do realise, that I speak bird, right?" he drawled.

"Well, you learn new things every day," she said to herself.

"Okay, James is headed over from atlas, alone thankfully, and I have sent a request to Ruby to come to my office tomorrow morning to meet us. Hopefully she will," Ozpin told them.

"You're the headmaster, a student such as her wouldn't question you," Glynda reassured just before Ozpins' scroll let out a ping, causing him to look down and frown.

"She asked why," he stated, "What should I say,"

"Give that to me Ozpin," said Qrow, snatching his phone and sending a message before Ozpin stole it back. The scroll pinged again.

"What did you send Qrow?" Ozpin asked before seeing Rubys' reply.

"None of your beeswax kiddo," he replied snarkely.

"Qrow, don't speak to Oz—" Glynda stopped as Ozpin showed her the message, "You mean you literally sent that to your own daughter via Ozpins scroll?!"

"Don't worry Glynda," said Ozpin, laughing slightly, "Her reply was; 'Why did you let Qrow steal your scroll Ozpin? Assuming you have stolen it back by now,' clever girl,"

"My turn," Glynda yelped, snatching the scroll of Ozpin, surprising him then texting Ruby herself, getting a prompt reply, "I texted her, 'Because he was being an idiot,' and she replied, 'Oh, hello Glynda,'. How can she tell?"

The scroll beeped once more, and Glynda continued to read it out, "'Did you know that Qrow uses no punctuation, Ozpin usually would but doesn't proofread for grammar but you do, leaving your text messages perfect? Now, quit texting me, I am in class and I could get in trouble, goodbye,'"

"Miss Rose, what are you doing with your scroll out in class?!" doctor Oobleck shouted.

She showed him her scroll and said, "Ozpin texted me, then Qrow did, then Glynda. They were all stealing Ozpins scroll,"

"Ah, they do that sometimes. I remember I once got a message from Glynda that said, 'there is a grim that needs killing. Go kill it. Bring back beer,' then, 'under no circumstances are you to buy either of them beer,' then finally, 'The Grimm you must kill is situated in Karilieu, west quarter and is a Ursa major. This is a search and destroy mission,' so I know exactly what you mean," then addressing the whole class, "There is one very important lesson we have learnt today, can anyone tell me what it is?"

Pyrrha put her hand up and answered, "That the Grimm are not natural—"

"No! Anyone else?" interrupted Oobleck. Jaune tentatively rose his hand, "Yes mister Arc?"

"That we have a really weird headmaster and deputy and that someone called Qrow is very sneaky?" he answered, eliciting numerous chuckles from about the room.

"That is absolutely correct mister Arc well done you are excused from detention mister Winchester I will be speaking to you soon again class dismissed!"

And with that the students dispersed back to their dorms.

But on the way there, Ruby ran into a particular trio.

"Oh, hi there, my name's Emerald, this is Mercury and Cinder. What's your name?" the green haired thief asked.

"My name is Ruby, It's nice to meet you. Are you from here from Haven for the tournament?" Ruby replied, recognising instantly all three of them, knowing exactly what to say to give them a spook.

"Yes," Cinder replied, "Are you competing?"

"Yep! But first I've got to find **Salem** ," she said, feigning innocence.

Cinder cast the other two a worried glance, a spark of flame dancing in her hand, before flickering out as Ruby continued, "She's my cat. My mother, **Summer Rose** , named it after a lady she once knew. That cat's a trouble maker though, sometimes she goes missing for months at a time! She usually comes back by the start of the next season though. Oh well then, I guess I'll have to wait for **Fall** then, but if you see her, tell her I said 'hi'"

Then Ruby skipped off, without a goodbye, leaving Mercury to ask, "Did she just…?"

Cinder nodded and Emerald replied, "I have a strong suspicion she did,"

As the trio walked away, Cinder thought to herself _'That girl knows something'._


	7. Chapter 7

The next day, Ruby excused herself from class, saying she was going to a compulsory leadership seminar, and headed towards the top of beacon tower. Upon arrival, she slipped inside the room unnoticed, sneaking behind the man she was still pretending was her uncle, about to get the jump on him.

Screaming and jumping on his back from behind, they both fell to the floor laughing hysterically before Ozpin spoke up, "I'm sure you're wondering why you're here miss Rose and,"

He was cut off by Qrow, "Let me tell her Oz" Ozpin nodded, allowing Qrow to continue, "Okay Rubes, what's your favourite fairy-tale?"

Smiling and realising what they were asking her, she replied quickly, "Silver eyed warriors, hands down, seconded by the four maidens,"

"Oh? Really? Uhh… why?"

"Oh, because I am a silver eyed warrior, figured that out a while ago, and because all I want to do is help people, just like the four maidens did," she replied.

"And what if I told you that the tale of the four maidens is true?" Qrow asked.

"Then I'd say 'makes sense,' I have the powers of the silver eyed warriors and I exist, so why shouldn't other fairy tales?"

"Umm… uh… Ozpin, I'm too drunk to explain things, do it for me,"

Obliging, Ozpin cut straight to the point, "Seeing as you seem quite accepting of this, I will straight away tell you this; we believe you to be a candidate for the next fall maiden. The current one is beneath the school, comatose,"

"Show me,"

"I know it's hard to believe but—what really? Okay then, James?" Ozpin asked.

"Follow me miss Rose," the general said, leading them all to the elevator then down into the basement. Walking down the large room, Ironwood started saying, "You see, we are tasked with protecting the maidens, and so, we have devised a machine to keep this one alive, now, follow my footsteps, the floor is rigged, so tread carefully—"

He stopped as Ruby ran straight ahead, hopping easily from one tile to the other with a practised ease, eventually reaching the fall maiden. Closing her eyes and focusing, a silver light came from under her eyelids as the mark on Amber's face started to disappear. Opening her eyes and punching the glass, Ruby pulled out the fall maiden who began to glow and dissipate into a golden light which flowed into Ruby.

All of a sudden, her head snapped up and she shouted to the dumbstruck hunters, "Move to the side!" as a strong golden glow began to hurtle towards Ruby, striking her dead in the chest.

Glowing and lifting off the ground, before settling down again and running back to the professors, she found they all had their weapons drawn, except Qrow who was trying to stop them, and aimed at her.

Rolling her eyes, Ruby waved her hand and all of them, except Qrow, were paralysed, and suspended in the air.

"Okay, so this may sound preposterous, and in all honesty, I think so too, but here it is: My name is Ruby Rose, aged 26, last woman alive on Remnant, strongest huntress up to date, the maiden of the four seasons, last silver eyed warrior and the slayer of Salem. And now, looking 10 years younger," she winked at that last point, imaging Oscar rolling his eyes before continuing, "I also am the only hope any of you have of surviving. Now, I've already sent letters to Winter, Raven, Ressort and even Cinder explaining precisely what has happened to them. I hope you don't mind to dreadfully as I had Oscar write your signature Ozpin, I hope it's okay with you. Oh, you can speak now,"

looking around at each other, none of them could think of an appropriate question, there being to many to choose from, but eventually one of them spoke up.

"What?" this was Ozpin, going for the broadest question he could, hoping she would elaborate.

"Okay so, you all die. Particularly you Ozpin, just after the Vytal festival. You being who you are, found a host in a farm-boy named Oscar. After a painful series of events, your conscious finally dissipating after three or so years, all 3 of the 4 maidens were killed whilst I was in the vicinity, their powers presumed lost, having supposedly found some mysterious host or other. Anyway, after eight or so years, I finally managed to kill Cinder, one of Salems' minions currently masquerading as a transfer student from Haven, also the one who stole part of Ambers' powers, then stealing the rest of them after killing you Ozpin, but as I did so, she killed Weiss, Blake, Yang and daddy dearest. This however caused minor trauma to my aura, unlocking all four of my new maiden powers, going on to kill Salem two years after that. It wasn't all that hard though really, with my magic eyeballs, maiden powers and my precious she died within an hour, taking the whole world with her, leaving only me and Oscar. So, in our final moments, we acted on our contingency plan, to send me back to before the fall of Beacon, so that I may throw an enormous monkey wrench in Salems' plans, before returning the peoples necessary memories. I believe you are familiar with these pearls Ozpin?" Ruby asked, holding up a pale green pearl, Ozpins eyes widening at the sight, "These contain the memories of the people who will make my life easier, including Oscar, Glynda, who only died recently, keep that in mind James for she is by far your superior when it comes to survival, though at times she wished she weren't. Also, those who would have otherwise been the maidens had I not felt the need to save the world have a pearl enclosed into their letters, and a memory chip for Penny, already-uploaded-nothing-you-can-do-about-it-now-Ironwood,"

"And what of your team?" asked a slightly put of Ironwood.

"No, they can never remember what happened to them and the world. They are only children, they don't need a war four years before they graduate, and they cannot know the horrors that their future selves would have endured," Ruby said, quietly.

"And what of you miss Rose? Do you have to remember as well? After this is over, will you return to your timeline?" Ironwood asked brusquely.

"No," she sighed in return, "I cannot, for there would be no other 'me' left in this time, and nothing for me in a future I never got to build. But, I want to stay here. Here, everybody is alive, everybody is safe and mostly, everybody is happy,"

"How though, how are you still so happy yourself, you said you watched everyone you loved die right in front of you, yet here you are, back at Beacon, with your still bubbly attitude, acting like the whole thing never happened. How is that psychologically possible," Glynda asked.

"Because I'm Ruby Rose, daughter of Summer Rose and Qrow Branwen, and throughout everything I've seen, I've still had hope. Hope and something to hope for after the war, someone more like. But anyway, I'm guessing you will want your letters and pearls now, along with copies of the letters sent to the maidens, after which you will want to either kill Cinder or question me, whichever of us is closest at the time, then we shall proceed to kill Salem and go on to do Oum knows what until the proverbial cows come home. Now, your pearls are contained within these letters, only touch the one inside your designated letters, you may wish to read the letters before touching the pears though. In the meantime, I will be up here, watching," and with that, she floated casually up to the ceiling and planted herself on a flat piece of scaffolding jutting out from the wall to watch what she knew would be hilarity, scroll turned to video mode in her hand, recording evidence.


	8. Chapter 8

"I'm drunk, I've copped it, I died, I'm dreaming. I am so out of it I thought my daughter just said she was as OP as a god and came back from the future to kill another veritable god who we've been trying to kill for years, along with saying that she may or may not have a boyfriend and knows that I'm her father. Yeesh, time to lay of the whiskey Qrow," Qrow muttered to himself as he never the less made his way to the table on which lay the letters.

The four of them deciding to put their curiosity aside for the moment, much to the dismay of Ruby, they decided to read the copies of the ex-maidens first, before demanding to know how what just happened did.

 _Dear Auntie Raven,_

 _Firstly, I have the necessary evidence to prove your innocence so you might as well come out of hiding and explain things to your daughter, starting with why you ditched her at five. I know Summers death was an accident and that you didn't kill her, so you should be safe enough to come out from whatever hell hole you are currently residing in._

 _Secondly, I am sorry to inform you that you are no longer the Summer maiden, I am. After a detailed series of events, which are enclosed within the memory pearls you would have received, you died in the future and I became the next Summer maiden before backpedalling time and returning to now._

 _Finally, in a few days, you will get a message calling you to Beacon. I would advise you do so, or you will likely regret it for the rest of your life._

 _Your sincerely,_

 _Ruby Rose_

The four hunters exchanged worried glances before opening the next letter.

 _Dear Beatrice Été,_

 _I am so sorry to have stolen your death, which is why I have returned it to you in this pearl. On the 30_ _th_ _of February next year, touch it, and you will die laughing at what would have occurred._

 _I am also sorry to inform you, though I doubt you are sorry to be informed, that you are no longer the Spring maiden, I am. My name is Ruby Rose, the daughter of your cousin, and I have managed to travel backwards in time ten years in order to stop you-know-who._

 _When you get this, could you please forward the second enclosed letter and pearl to your nephew, I am afraid it is quite necessary for you to do so, but when you see him, tell him I am sorry that he must be thrown back into this._

 _I hope to meet again sometime, but I doubt that we will._

 _Your sincerely,_

 _Ruby Rose_

This letter brought a sad smile to each of the non-drunk hunters as they opened the third letter.

 _Dear Winter,_

 _Sit down, you will probably want to._

 _In roughly three years, you would have died by the hands of one of Salems lackeys. I deserve a thank you for travelling ten years backwards to stop that, and many other things, from happening. My name is Ruby. I am the new Winter maiden, not you, so kick back and relax, and turn on the heater because for the first time in years, you get to feel a little warm._

 _I would greatly appreciate it if, when you arrive at Beacon for the Vytal tournament, you immediately disperse your guards and give Weiss a hug, or I will end you. I would also appreciate you greeting me with actual respect instead of your signature Schnee 'I am better than you so bow down and adore me' act, though a simple 'hello' would also suffice._

 _Yours truly,_

 _Ruby Rose_

 _P.S. Weiss misses you and would likely wish me to say 'hi' from her_

 _P.P.S. Qrow is a better fighter than you are_

Finally, grinning like the drunkard he is, Qrow opened the fourth and final letter.

 _Cinder,_

 _I hate you. It took eight years to kill you, after killing two of my best friends and one of my favourite punching bags, then cutting off my sisters' arm, I finally killed you. Still you managed to kill my entire team and remaining family. Truly that is a gift of yours. You will find, that in a few days, you will lose all your stolen powers. That is because I will have stolen them back. I hate you and wish you would die again, and I wish to never have to see you and your comrades again._

 _However, if you turn yourself over, halt any and all operations you might have planned, and give us the location of Salem to prove your newfound loyalty to us, I believe we will get along swimmingly. You are not currently a monster, and I do not wish for you to end up one, everyone deserves a second chance. BUT, if you choose to betray me, and steal once more the maidens powers, I will not hesitate to kill you. If you tried such a thing, I could kill you by looking at you with my all powerful silver eyes, the ones Salem warned you about._

 _In a few days, just before your maiden powers are returned to me, I will run into you in the hallways, and trust me, you'll know who I am. So just know, that should I ever choose to, I can kill you, and you will forever mourn the day you ever joined Salem in the fiery abyss I will send you too, as you forget, fire isn't as nice when it's someone elses._

 _I really hate you,_

 _Ruby Rose_

The hunters looked at each other amused, before picking up their own letters and reading them.

 _Dear Ozpin,_

 _I really wish you didn't die, you were so cool, and I barely ever got to see you use your cane. Sure, Oscar used it a little and let me play with it, but it suits you more._

 _I don't really have anything else to tell you, but the memory pearl has any information you might want. Don't touch it until everybody else does._

 _From,_

 _Ruby_

 _Dear dad,_

 _I have a bone to pick with you. You didn't tell me, until you literally had an arrow through your chest, that I was your daughter, and Yang wasn't my sister. At that moment, when my maiden powers awoke, just be glad I didn't know how to freeze wounds yet, or you would have been in for an earful before you died._

 _But since that hasn't happened, and will not happen, I suppose I can no longer blame you for that. There is nothing you need to know that I can't tell you when you're sober enough to remember it. Although the pearl enclosed in this letter is for you, it is more for your benefit than to explain anything, though Oscar did make another one for you, but I don't know what's on it, and he said not to give it to you until he says so._

 _From your loving daughter,_

 _Ruby Branwen Rose_

 _P.S. Touch the pearl when Glynda and Ozpin touch theirs._

 _Dear Glynda,_

 _Dear, dear Glynda. Congratulations on not dying until Salem destroyed the world._

 _That is pretty much it really. The pearl holds all you need to know, but I will say this;_

 _Happy anniversary!_

 _From,_

 _Ruby_

 _P.S. don't touch the pearl until the others do_

 _Dear Ironwood,_

 _I want to tell you that you will not stay single forever. You marry a lovely woman then die a year later. You must apologise to her for that. I have nothing else to say to you, except that your army is as pathetic as your firewalls and you need a new tech expert, and to not touch the pearls until the rest of you do._

 _Ruby_

"I say, we touch them now and get it over with," slurred Qrow.

"Agreed," and so, each of them touched their respective memory pearls.

As each of them took a step back as they took in their memories, expressions of shock clear on their faces, Ruby started recording. The first to recover was her father who looked at Glynda and Ironwood and bowled over laughing. Second to recover was Ozpin, soon, uncharacteristically joining in with Qrow, laughing at the other two.

Glynda, recovering next, stood straight and turned to an even straighter and whiter Ironwood.

"James," Glynda said cordially.

"Glynda," he replied, equally as cordially.

Breaking the cordiality however Glynda continued, "HOW THE HELL DID I END UP MARRYING YOU?! I DON'T EVEN, I CAN'T, I JUST!" she sighed and calmed down slightly before continuing, "I marry you in two years. I Glynda Goodwitch, marry you, James Ironwood. And then I change my name, to Glynda Ironwitch, the name courtesy of Qrow. Tell me James, am I drunk?" she asked honestly, "It's happened before, that's how I met you after all. It is also why I have never been drunk since, because we do stupid things when we're drunk,"

"Glynda, you are not drunk. It appears that miss Rose, has brought back, and registered our marriage documents and name change. And these are our rings," he said, smiling softly, and bending down on one knee, "Miss Goodwitch, will you do me the honour, of continuing to be my bride?"

"You know what? Why the hell not? Sure, I'll suddenly and for no reason be your wife, it's not like I can do anything about it anyway so what the heck,"

Suddenly, laughter loud and clear rang from the pillar opposite Ruby. The group of four still on the floor looked up to see an indistinct silhouetted figure perched on the columns top base.

"I hope you've sent that video to my husband Ruby," the shadowed figure called as the four slowly drew their weapons.

"Sure did auntie Raven, why don't you go and socialise with your brother and his cohorts, uncle Tai will be here eventually," Ruby answered, then said more to herself but still audibly, "Probably in the post, god knows what that man can fit into tiny cylinders. He's probably in one whilst Zwei and probably a five hundred page apology addressed to Yang is in the other. Either way, I'd best be off now, people to see, things to demolish mercilessly, Yangs to wrangle. I'll send her up to your office in an hour. She deserves an explanation from all of you as to why the hell her mother left her and why the hell she came back. I hope you've prepared a very, **very** , long apology for her. Well, I'll be seeing ya," and with a final graceful flourish, Ruby disappeared from the room into thin air, leaving nothing but a scattering of rose petals.

"Like mother like father like aunt like grandmother like daughter, right Raven?" Qrow sighed.

Raven looked at him in confusion before semi-understanding his incoherent slurring, "Too much so. I would say it'll get her killed some day, but I know better,"

"Er okay, um, you're here," A frazzled Ozpin stated gesturing to Raven.

"Yes," Raven replied calmly.

"And you're okay with that?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered, exasperated.

"So you're not under pain of death or worse?" Glynda questioned.

"No! I chose to come!" Raven shouted in reply.

There was a pause, and then:

"Are you sure?"

"Yes,"

another pause before Glynda decided, "I don't believe you,"

"I hate you," Raven crossed her arms before turning around and marching out of the room

"Ahh, there she is," Qrow laughed slightly, glad to have his short tempered sister back, before following her out.


	9. Chapter 9

It was only an half an hour later when Raven was sitting in Ozpins office, looking meekly down at her feet, feeling extremely sorry for herself.

As it so happened, Tai had arrived half an hour early (having used the express post) and had run into Yang. At the same time, Raven had come flying around the corner, and bashed straight into Tai, knocking him over, and transforming into a human whilst doing so.

As she sat up, she had started mumbling apologies, when she realised who she had crashed into.

"Holy goodness okay it's my husband, okay wow, you're early," she said in shock.

"Holy goodness okay it's my wife, okay wow, did not expect you here. Mind you, I also didn't expect that Glynda Goodwitch and James ironwood would be married. How've ya been?" Tai said, equally in shock, but still fairly relaxed about the situation.

"I'm good thanks, been all over Remnant, made a couple of new friends. I still missed you both though. You?"

"I mostly just missed you," Tai answered, before they both froze, and turned to their lightly smouldering daughter, a frozen smile on her face, violet eyes blood red.

"Hello mother, where were you for the first and only seventeen years of my life?" Yang asked pleasantly.

"Oh, I've been around," Raven managed to squeak, stepping back slightly, "How has your life been?"

"Really, Really, LONELY!" the Yang finally burst, punching her fists together, fire spewing everywhere.

Her fellow students, and parents, started to run, Yang in hot pursuit.

"Hey honey? Seeing as our daughter's semblance is to do with fire, shouldn't we head away from the highly flammable forest and into the moat surrounding Beacon?" Tai shouted to his wife.

"That would probably be wise!" she shouted back, altering her course.

As they ran, Tai asked, "So why exactly did you return? I thought you were on the run for supposedly killing Sum. Hey, why haven't you teleported out of here by the way?"

"Firstly," she replied, feet thumping wildly, "Because I am no longer a maiden, and evidence has been found that I didn't kill her, and secondly… dammit," at that a black and red portal appeared before them both, taking them into Ozpins office where he waited for them, completely unsuprised.

"Well, what do you have to say for yourselves?" Ozpin asked, remembering the first time this particular pair sat in his office. They had to have been his most frequent visitors were it not for the fact that Qrows semblance tended to get him and Summer caught more often.

"It wasn't my fault! The kamikaze bird came crashing into me!" Tai argued.

"That's only because you chose the express post over your usual method!" Raven argued back.

' _honestly,'_ Ozpin thought, _'after all these years, I would have thought that these two would have learnt that arguing gets you nowhere,'_

"Girls please, you're both pretty," Ozpin said, about to continue before he was interrupted.

"Thankyou!" Tai shouted.

"Yes, thankyou! But I'm still prettier," Raven muttered.

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too! You're not even a girl!"

"She's got a point," Ozpin murmured.

"Now your taking her side!" Tai whined.

"Listen, I've sent out our best huntress to take down your daughter and prevent her from destroying the school. Do not worry, she has been ordered not to use lethal force," Ozpin assured, before being once more interrupted.

"I doubt anyone is capable of that, not even Ruby or even a maiden is capable of that," Tai thought aloud.

Raven laughed lightly and looked away, "He he he, yeah, about that…"

"You see, erm, ah, that's precisely who we sent. All four maidens… and Ruby," Ozpin said as nonchalantly as possible.

"WHAT! Okay, yeah, it would take a lot to take Yang down, but what kind of idiot brings possible the five most dangerous people in the world together, just to stop the destruction of one small school. Why would you do that?! and how could you bring Ruby into this?!" Taiyang screamed.

"Well… you see… we only sent one person after Yang. That person is Ruby. She is also all four maidens in one. She is also twenty six years old," Ozpin explained.

"… Huh?"

"In ten years the world ends and the only people left alive are Ruby and Oscar, who is in line to inherit Ozpins time semblance. He sends her back in time ten years with all the maiden powers, and so here we are," Raven abbreviates for her husband.

Taiyang abruptly faints.

"Ahh…"

"Night-night Tai," Raven kissed her husband on the forehead, before carrying him off somewhere, probably to go over apologise-to-Yang notes.

"Oh gods, why?! Why does that family always have to overcomplicate and muck up any sense of order?!" Glynda, who had heard everything, bemoaned and gave an exasperated sigh, "They remind me so much of us when we were all kids, but with bigger weapons,"

"I still think that this generation is the worst so far, and probably the last," James swaggered in, slinging an arm comfortably around his wifes' neck, "I mean, once our little four-gods-in-a-girl takes down Salem, then we can all retire. I think I can honestly say, that the foreseeable future is the brightest we've seen in ages. Salem's high up on deaths' list, and once the remainder of the Grimm are hunted down, there will be no need for us to continue as hunters. We can settle down and maybe, start a family. What do you think about that Glynda?"

"Babe, I'd be absolutely overjoyed to start a family. Isn't there that ancestry website going around. Maybe I can find some distant relatives of mine," Glynda smiled, sashaying to the door, then turning around and lowering her glasses and asked innocently, "That is what you meant, isn't it?"

As Glynda exited the room, James in tow, Ozpin said to himself, "That's what I need, a girlfriend! Now, how to go about finding one?"

"Who needs girlfriends or boyfriends when you've got a friend like me," Ruby called, coming through the window, possibly the first in her line to open it, rather than smash through.

"By the way," Ruby said, sitting in one of the chairs at his desk and pulling out a cookie to munch on, "Yang's currently unconscious in the dungeons, unconsciously melting her way out of a four meter thick ice-cube courtesy of winter,"

"Wouldn't that kill her!?" Ozpin asked, only slightly worried.

"No. Zwei just arrived along with a prepare five hundred page apology to Yang. He's looking after her. It appears that Uncle Tai was too cheap to put him through the express mail. Oh, and if you're walking around the school, and smell some burning, don't blame it all on Yang, part of that was me," Ruby spun around on the chair then added, "It also appears that Salems minions have moved forward their plans. Salem must have found out Cinder is no longer half fall, and decided that the, and I quote, 'Spawn of that troublesome Rose' has something to do with it, so I ask you; when can I kill her?"

"I'm sorry?" Ozpin asked, truly confused.

"As you know, I am only a first year student. I am not authorised to go on missions outside of Vale without any instructors until next year," She drawled, spinning around once more, "So either you let me go alone, poor, innocent, underage, Ruby, alone and rather attractive in a dangerous world. Of course if I was assigned a capable huntsman or two, I would feel considerably safer,"

Ozpin would have laughed, in fact, he did snort a little, were it not for the fact that she sounded perfectly serious. He tilted his head somewhat and asked honestly, "If you claim to be able to take down Salem without difficulty, why do you fear mortal men?"

"I only ever personally killed two people, Cinder and Salem, and one of those was an accident. Sure as the head of the fourth army, the last squadron of Remnants soldiers, I have ordered many deaths, but I never killed apart from Grimm and robots really. I don't think I could have ever looked him in the eye if I did," Ruby smiled happily, "Besides, Grimm blood dissipates within minutes, human blood stains badly,"

' _ah, ever the happy optimist, the will power that must take after all she's seen is remarkable. Even with the memories and emotions of four hundred different people in her head. The Rose family sure is remarkable,'_

"Right. I henceforth assign you whomever wishes to see the demise of the witch-with-a-B who started this god-awful mess in the first place, meaning probably James, the remainder of team STRQ, Glynda and myself, probably also port and Oobleck. I don't feel it necessary to involve the rest of your team, unless you think otherwise?" Ozpin asked, curious as to what the girl could possibly be thinking.

"Well~, I was thinking, Salem is really no different to some sort of crime lord, if we invited JNPR and say, CVFY, maybe even Winter, as in the Schnee, and call it some sort of a raid, we could bring everyone along and give them some experience in the field. And maybe even stoop by Rosewood…. Never mind. It's on the way there. If we run into Oscar, then that's fine, but if we don't then that's all the better. I don't wish to involve him if I don't have to but…"

"I understand, you miss him. More than that, you love him. You love him enough to let him go, to live a normal life, but… it will be my time to pass on soon, fall of Beacon or not, it's my time to die soon enough and then my aura will pass on to Oscar. He will remember soon enough anyway, so there's really no point in avoiding him. I'll tell you what, if the path just happens to run through his farm, and we just happen to be in need of rest for a night, then we may just run into him," Ozpin smiled kindly, "And about your idea for inviting your merry band of friends, I think that is a marvellous idea! Honestly, I do, it could easily provide them with a one of a kind experience, but Salem, a crime lord? Good grief, if she heard you say that…"

"She would be offended at being compared to Torchwick, but at the same time slightly proud at the title. She's a psychopath, so who knows?"

"Hmm," Ozpin agreed before Watching as Ruby excused herself, and exited via the window. When she was gone, he said to himself, "Why is it, in every life threatening situation, children always have to save the world?"


End file.
